"If there's one guy that the baseball game is gonna miss once he's retired, it's Derek," Ortiz said on Sirius XM's MLB Network Radio. "Derek is very professional, that's a guy that is all about the game, all about the business. He is one of the baseball players that I can tell you that pretty much his whole career has done everything perfectly right. And when I watch him play I get goose bumps."

"You know what I'm saying? That's one of the players that everybody wants to come and see."

Jeter is off to a slow start this spring, 0-for-9 after four games, including Tuesday night's 0-for-2 against the Orioles as the DH.

RHP David Phelps, in competition for the fifth starter spot but virtually assured a relief role if he comes up short, escaped two-on, none-out jams in the first and second innings but was touched for a run in the third. He allowed five hits and a run in 22/3 innings. LHP Matt Thornton, making his spring appearance, relieved Phelps and retired the only batter he faced.

INF/OF Yangervis Solarte, a non-roster invitee signed to a minor league deal Jan. 16, continued his bid to earn a reserve spot, going 1-for-2 with an RBI. The 26-year-old righthanded hitter had entered 6-for-7 this spring with five RBIs . . . Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez is back with the Yankees, signing on as a minor-league spring training pitching instructor. Hernandez, who went 8-1 in postseason games for the Bombers from 1998-2000, said he will be at the club's minor league complex the next few weeks, according to the Associated Press.